Bugger

I’ve just discovered that I have an assignment deadline tomorrow for an assessment I didn’t realise I had, in my weakest module. Joy!

On the upside, I’ve just looked at the assessment and it’s got very little to do with the module; in fact, it oughta be comparatively easy: still – 4-8 hours work I didn’t anticipate.

In other news; a stunning article (plain English, both an introduction to the subject and an ongoing summary) about the state of play with digital music, DRM, and all that on Bill Blog today. If you listen to music on CD or watch DVD movies, you oughta read this one.

The Right To Read

[this post was lost during a server failure on Sunday 11th July 2004; it was partially recovered on 21st March 2012]

If you haven’t already read it, take a look at The Right To Read, a very short story written in 1997 and updated in 2002 – it’ll only take you a few minutes to read; it’s not ‘techie’ (anybody would understand it!), and it is relevant. The kind of things that are expressed in the story – while futuristic (and facist) sounding now, are being put into effect… slowly, quietly… by companies such as Sony, Phillips, Apple, and Microsoft: not to mention the manufactors of CDs and DVDs.

It’s been circulating the ‘net for years, but recent events such as InterTrust’s Universal Digital Rights Management System (report: The Register), which they claim will be ready within 6 months, and Microsoft’s ongoing work on the ‘Palladium’ project (report: BBC News) – topical events which mark the beginning of what could be the most important thing ever to happen in the history of copyright law, computing, and freedom of information.

So, go on – go read… [the remainder of this post, and three comments, have been lost]